


Brother Dearest

by livtontea



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Gift Fic, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No Incest, Secret Santa Klaus 2019, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21943732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livtontea/pseuds/livtontea
Summary: It’s early morning, and for reasons unnamed, Klaus is sitting on the roof.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 12
Kudos: 109





	Brother Dearest

**Author's Note:**

> This is my secret santa gift for @the-rivendell-librarian on tumblr! It was a pleasure to write, I had a lot of fun! Hopefully you like it :)

It’s early morning, and for reasons unnamed, Klaus is sitting on the roof. Normally—well, not normally, not anymore—he’d be smoking. Normally—yeah, yeah, normally doesn’t fit, usually is probably a better word. Usually, he would have a blunt or a cigarette in his hand, inhaling and then blowing smoke up into the dark sky, watching it swirl and then dissipate in the cold air.

Usually, he would be high. Usually is a time that takes place before the end of the world, before hands being squeezed tight, before blue light engulfing and pushing them to somewhere new.

Or old—somewhere old. Fuck, he doesn’t know how time travel works. Five would rant and rant about the topic if asked. Or he’d just sneer and say something along the lines of, “You wouldn’t get it.”

Whatever, whatever. He’s not high and they stopped the shitshow in the theater, is the point. Klaus is sitting on the roof, and it’s early morning, and there’s no apocalypse hanging over their heads; hopefully. There’s still time for that to change, is what they all think without saying out loud.

Klaus wraps his coat tighter around himself. It’s a little chilly, which for a normal person would equate to cold. Klaus has had colder. Eh, who cares.

Ben is absent, gone to people-watch or talk to other dead people or whatever it is ghosts do in their free time. Klaus’ hands are glowing a dim but steady blue, so Ben’s probably hanging with the others, actually. Klaus thinks he remembers him saying something about watching a movie with Allison? Or maybe that was yesterday. Maybe it hasn’t happened yet and he’s making things up.

It’s been… hard, to figure out how to only pull Ben into this plane of existence. Big words. At first, he’d made every ghost around corporeal, which was very unpleasant, to say the least. Now he can just stick with his brother, and leave all the other ghosties to be immaterial ghosties.

A dead gardener missing half of his face moans from where he’s hovering left of Klaus. Klaus mimes tipping a hat at him.

“Nice night, huh?”

The gardener moans again.

He’s one of the nicer ones. Klaus doesn’t mind him too much, but sometimes the fucked up face gets on his nerves. Seriously, staring at ripped open flesh and bared bone does not make for easy conversation. Especially since the gardener never really talks. Sometimes he garbles out some incoherent sentence, but sticks to moaning. Usually.

“Yeah. You’re right. It’s morning, huh? Wonder when the sun will come up.”

Another moan.

“Soon, I hope. Fuck, this would be much more interesting if I actually had something to do.”

“Then why don’t you go inside, and do something,” another voice chimes in from behind. Klaus turns and grins at Diego.

“It’s about the principle, brother dear. If I was inside, I wouldn’t be out on the roof anymore.”

“Why are you on the roof in the first place? It’s cold.”

“Liar,” sing-songs Klaus. “You don’t know it’s cold.”

“...Klaus, just because I can’t feel how cold it is, doesn’t mean I can’t check a thermostat.”

“Do we even have a thermostat?” Klaus doesn’t think they have a thermostat. Or, well, they probably do—Dad would have one. But Diego conveniently carrying around a thermostat? Nah.

Diego taps the wall by the door. Klaus is certain there’s nothing, but sure enough, there’s a thermostat hanging right there. Huh. He doesn’t remember seeing it before.

“So what are you doing up here?” Diego says.

“Well, I don’t seem to recall,” lies Klaus. “Maybe I just came up here to enjoy the scenery.”

“No, no you didn’t.” Diego leans against the doorway and raises an eyebrow. “Come on, tell me. You’re not even in the observatory. Then you could at least say you were looking at stars.”

“I could be looking at the stars right from here!”

“Light pollution,” says Diego.

“Shit.” Klaus glances up. His brother is right, he can barely make out the glimmering specks in the sky. “You’re right, fine, whatever. I’m still not telling you.”

Diego stays silent for a second longer, and the pushes himself off the wall to walk toward Klaus. He squints at his sibling. “Is this about somebody?”

“What?”

“Your dog tags,” Diego continues. “You still have them on. And you’re wearing that vest.”

“Oh.” He is. “I am.”

“Klaus, what is this about?”

“It doesn’t matter,” says Klaus. He wraps his fingers around the dog tags. The engraved name on the metal presses into his fingers.

“Klaus.”

“Diego,” parrots Klaus.

“Klaus!”

“What! I’m not telling you, just- just leave, okay?”

The wind blows, carrying the dead man’s moans through the air. Only Klaus can hear them. He shuts his eyes and waits for Diego to give up and leave. He doesn’t, though. His brother has always been a stubborn bastard.

Diego sits down next to Klaus. “You lost someone,” he says, “didn’t you.”

Klaus inhales—shakily and damply, and he’s already holding back tears, _shit_ —and says, “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“What was her name?” asks Diego, and Klaus almost laughs. There is no _her,_ there was never a _her._ There was only him. And…

“His name was Dave.”

Diego’s face flashes in surprise for one quick second. “Dave?”

“Yeah,” says Klaus. “He was… He was amazing.”

Diego smirks. “Amazing. Go on. He must’ve been one special guy to put up with all of your shit.”

Klaus laughs. Diego’s right, even. “He was. He was strong, kind, brave… beautiful.”

“He meant a lot to you,” says Diego. It’s not a question, and Klaus isn’t going to treat it as such. The wind blows.

“Yeah.”

“You can’t see him,” deduces Diego. “Can you?”

Klaus shakes his head. It’s why he’s here, after all. “He loved mornings like this.”

Diego nods, as if to say, _keep going._

“When it’s still dark, but you can… you know the sun’s going to come up soon. He loved that.”

“I can see why,” whispers Diego. Klaus can feel tears prickle the corners of his eyes.

“I miss him,” he chokes out. “I— I miss him, Diego, I miss Dave.”

“I know. I know.”

Klaus squeezes the dog tags tighter. He wipes at his eyes with the heel of his hand, smearing mascara and tears around his face in the process. Diego puts a hand on his shoulder.

“You’ll find him,” he says, like he knows. “You’re going to find him, you hear me? He can’t stay hidden forever.”

“Thanks,” says Klaus. “I hope I do.”

Diego hesitates before putting his arms around him in a slow and clunky motion. Klaus snorts a short laugh and hugs his brother.

They’re on the roof. It’s early morning, and the sun is just now peeking over the rooftops of the city. A dead man moans, and Klaus’ dog tags clink together in the wind.

Dave doesn’t show.

It’s okay. Klaus hugs his brother on the roof, and he isn’t alone. He can wait.

Dave is going to show up eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr's @seven-misfits and comments are always appreciated!


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